Investigation after flight-school plane damaged in landing

The Cessna 152 was damaged on landing. Photo / Bevan Conley

A pilot is uninjured after a plane was damaged landing at Whanganui Airport this morning.

The Cessna 152 operated by the New Zealand International Commercial Pilot Academy (NZICPA) had to be towed off the runway to its hangar.

The pilot, on a solo flight, was uninjured but the nose landing gear of the aircraft was damaged.

Academy chief executive Phillip Bedford said it was a "minor incident on landing".

"There's some mechanical damage to the plane and our engineers are working through that."

Bedford said it was too early to say what went wrong but it would be independently investigated.

"We'll be conducting a full investigation and from that we'll understand what's happened," he said.

"We'll look at everything that possibly contributed. If there's any lessons in there we'll pick up on them."

The Civil Aviation Authority has been notified.

Whanganui District Council Holdings bought the flight school in 2015 for $800,000 and moved it from the Feilding Aerodrome to the Whanganui Airport.

It began operating in July.